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Viral: Another Horror Dud Courtesy of Blumhouse Productions

Published On:
10/10/2016

With its infected-walking-dead-like-feasting-upon-humans scenario way past its sell by date, Viral - the latest horror creation from Blumhouse Productions - is one of those movies that leaves you wishing you'd spent the time doing something more interesting. There is nothing here you haven't seen before and despite its occasional goriness, the overall result is still weak.

The story is centred on two sisters, Emma & Stacey Drakeford – played by Sofia Black-D'Elia and Analeigh Tipton respectively – who find themselves under a government-sanctioned house arrest following the fast spread of something scientists are referring to as Worm Flu, of which its symptoms include an increased appetite, bloody coughing and uncontrollable seizures, which eventually leaves the victims inhabited by a parasite before finally turning them into vicious killers. In order to prevent the further spread of the disease, the country have been placed under military quarantine which has, as it turns out, left Emma and Stacey without any adult supervision.

With their parents stuck elsewhere the girls – who are not really taking the whole situation too seriously – decide to head out to a party where, as these things usually go, they soon get a chance to experience first-hand just how dangerous the disease really is. With what was supposed to be just another teenage party turned into bloody anarchy, the two sisters – who are not exactly the best of friends – now need to work out their differences if they are ever to make it out alive.

The flaws are unfortunately aplenty in Viral and they're not that hard to spot; but there is one thing that actually works and that's the idea of telling the story through the eyes of a young teenager who, besides having to deal with trying to fit into her new surroundings whilst watching her parents' marriage dwindle, now has to deal with something much more catastrophic and lethal. Setting it up so that the focus lies on one character rather than a whole bunch of people is a nice change from the norm and Black-D'Ella's performance has much to do with it.

Unfortunately, Viral stumbles with everything else; there's a lack of originality and an endless stream of ineffective scare set-ups that turn what was a potentially entertaining drama-horror - which also uses real-life footage as a way to add a level of realism - to just another one of the many films you will soon forget. Best suited for a home viewing – you know, when there's nothing else on.

Returning to the world of wizards and all things magic, J.K Rowling’s screenwriting debut in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has produced mixed results. Following the massive and the enduring success of the Harry Potter film franchise, the story is both magical and visually arresting. However, although definitely entertaining, the fun factor seems to have been squeezed out of the proceedings.

The plot follows ‘magizoologist’, Newt (Redmayne), who travels the world in search of magical animals in order to learn more about their powers. During his travels to New York City in 1926, Newt ends up losing his magical suitcase – a portable zoo of sorts which accidentally finds itself in the hands of an aspiring baker, Jacob Kowalski (Fogler) – setting off a chain of chaos.

The incident soon attracts the attention of Tina Goldstein (Waterston); a federal agent working for the Magical Congress of the United States of America who, after some persuading, reluctantly joins our hero on his quest along with her mind-reading sister, Queenie (Sudol).

Working from an original screenplay penned by J.K Rowling herself and directed by David Yates – filmmaker who helmed previous Harry Potter films – it would be easy to assume Fantastic Beasts to be nothing more than a blatant cash-grab which hopes to profit from long-time Harry Potter fans. However, although not as developed or as absorbing as one might have hoped, Fantastic Beasts proves to be a worthy addition to the fantasy arena which delivers an enchanting premise of eccentricity and magic.

Set seventy years before a boy named Harry Potter first walked the halls of Hogwarths, the film benefits from a degree of creative freedom to expand on its premise, introducing new stories, characters and an array of magical beasts along the way. However, there seems to be too much going on and the film struggles to keep up with the sheer amount of characters and sub-plots, failing to offer any substantial back stories or weight support them. The performances are relatively likable, with Redmayne embracing Newt’s love for magic with an gawky energy, though the rest of the cast – including Collin Farrell and Jon Voight - fail to make a similar impact.

Fantastic Beasts is an entertaining piece of cinema which will more than likely please die-hard fans that have been waiting to return to the world of wizards and magic. However, it’s not exactly what you might call an exciting movie or even a fully developed one; while it has sown the seeds for the films to come, as a standalone piece, it fails to really wow.

What can you say about the seemingly unstoppable force that is Nicolas Cage that hasn’t been said before? A magnet for the most troubled, muddled and just generally exasperating films to hit cinemas in the last five years, his latest work in USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage does nothing to change his fortunes.

Despite being based on one a true story that has all the makings of a war epic, the Mario Van Peebles-directed USS Indianapolis bleeds all and any gravitas and emotion out of its incredibly dramatic source material.

The story goes as thus: the eponymous US Navy cruiser delivered the first parts of the atomic bomb that would go on to devastate Hiroshima, before being torpedoed by the Japanese navy, leaving some 300 of the 1000-plus crewmen dead and the rest stranded in shark-infested waters. Said sharks, along with dehydration and salt water poisoning, leave just over 300 survivors to be rescued.

At the centre of the ensuing hubbub is Cage’s Captain McVay, who many, very unreasonably, blame for the death of the 700 or so victims – so you see, it’s a very complex story, but one that very quickly descend into and exercise on how not to make a war film.

The occasional laughable CGI aside, Cage is oddly sedate, bordering on placid, in his role – yes, the central character is possibly the flattest element of the film, while seasoned actors, Tom Sizemore and Thomas Jane, are given little to chew on in their respective roles.

While starting exactly as one would expect a war film to, the wreckage part of the film turns into cheap disaster movie, before turning into a courtroom drama in the final act. It’s a muddle of a film that fails to really drum to the beat of McVay’s potentially brilliant arc as a firm commander that eventually buckles under the unjust pressure he receives back at home.

Bad CGI, a mammoth two hour-plus running time and Nic Cage can be forgiven, but what’s at the heart of this film’s mess is the script. Jumping from event to event, plotline to plotline, at a whim, with Cage’s soft murmured speech used to pave over the transitions, USS Indianapolis’s pacing is that of a film hurrying to stuff as many ideas and threads as possible – expect that’s not the case. Van Peebles tries so hard to build the layers of an epic, when, actually, all he needed to do was tell this simple but stirring story as it is.

Like This? Try

28 Days Later (2002), 28 Weeks Later (20047), REC 2 (2009)

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Writer - Coffee addict and TV remote control freak who enjoys a good argument. Biggest fear: Empty pack of cigarettes.